It was going to be a rite of passage journey. We would need to make our way to the shore on our own. No adults would supervise us. There was a very special cove that we were heading to. We would go there. It was special because, when the light of full moon shone on merfolk there, they gained the ability to walk on land like humans. I perked up at that. That would be a perfect time to escape. From there, we were to mate amongst ourselves to become adult male and female members of the tribe. We also were given a "sacred" duty of conversion. Because it was quite possible some of us could die, it was important to replenish the number of merfolk in the world. That was done via conversion. You had to drown a human and kiss them. By breathing new life into them, they would become merfolk as well. We could bring them back as breeding stock for the tribe, but we were not obligated to do that. We each had to do at least one before coming back. We were a relatively decent sized tribe. Once we came back, that was it. We would never be allowed to leave. Our roles would be set.
As someone who did not like my prescribed role, that would be a problem. There was a human settlement near there based on the map. I was a Player, I would definitely be able to adjust. Obviously, I would need to play along until we got to the cove with the special moonlight magic properties. In FOG party size was capped at 6. With there being 12 of us, we would be split into 2 groups of 6. 3 warriors and 3 caregivers would be on each team. We would all be travelling together to the cove, but we all would be much closer to the ones in our squad and the orders of our squad leaders would be absolute. It also made things easier on me. I would only really need to remember 5 names instead of 11. 5 was a doable amount. 11 names was a bit much. "When you embrace on the shores, you can choose your names for yourselves. It will reflect who you are and what you have become through all your hard work." None of us even had names. That was crazy. Then again, we had this genderbend curse on us. It probably would be better to wait on it until we settled down in our adulthood.
Being a nameless merfolk on a quest that could end in death was a bit harrowing. We would be moving through territory that did not belong to us. Some of them might even be hostile to us. That could cause serious problems if we encountered them on the long journey. I knew that I was fine. I was a Player. At worst, I respawned after a few minutes. For the NPCs, they were gone for good. The full moon was a full day away. We would swim over there at dawn and get to the cove. We'd wait inside until the mystical full moon came. From that point on, we'd have our human legs and our conversion mandate. The guppy that beat me was the captain of the other squad. 3 of the warriors were with us. I had 2 guppies in the same boat as me. All of the non warriors were given a big star hairpin to wear. It was supposedly for modesty when we got our legs. I had no clue what the elder meant by that. We would find out about it soon enough. We were then told to get our rest. I was not an NPC. I did not need to sleep, but resting allowed for healing. Going to their common rooms, I sat for a little.
